I wonder what Polly is looking at. She's so intent on whatever is over there to the right. Actually, she was a bird in Venice, Florida that used to squawk "Marco," then the kids would yell "Polo!" She loved it and would bob up and down excitedly. My dad liked to feed her bits of crackers.
To get the jungle look behind her, I slapped some random gesso marks over the paper before I began the painting and let them dry. Later as I painted, the gessoed areas accepted the paint quite differently than the regular paper surface, creating a tension and texture that I liked a lot.
The great thing about painting watercolor on gessoed paper is that the paint can be lifted off easily with a damp brush, usually leaving only a slight ghost image on the gesso. Makes corrections easier for sure. Painting on gesso always makes me think I'm painting an oil slick, because of the way the paint settles in funny patterns on the gesso.
"PROUD POLLY" Transparent Watercolor and Gesso on 140# CP Arches 14 x 22" SOLD
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3 comments:
Wonderful. It's a little bit Joseph Raffael-ish...
I love paintings like this, where our eyes can create a backdrop, without it being spelled out for us...really lovely.
Tracy,
I LOVE his work! I painted this long before I ever knew who he was and certainly waded my way through the painting, as compared with his expertly designed drawing that he paints as if there's nothing to it!Imagine living in France and painting and painting and painting..... We can keep dreaming.
I imagine it ALL the time...or maybe Italy. I love his work too.
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